Legal consequences and sanctions for illegal marriage
1. The concept of illegal marriage
When getting married, a man and a woman need to satisfy the conditions prescribed by law, and not violate prohibited cases, for the marriage to be considered legal. That is to say, only when the conditions for marriage are complied with, will the marriage be legally valid, between the parties will arise and a proper husband and wife relationship will exist. Thereby, it can be understood that an illegal marriage is when a man and woman establish a husband and wife relationship with marriage registration but violate the conditions for marriage prescribed by law, specifically violations of age, intention of marriage. on civil act capacity, violating the marriage ban cases prescribed by law. Pursuant to Clause 6, Article 3 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 stipulates:
| Article 3. Interpretation of terms
In this Rule, the following terms are construed as follows: 6. Illegal marriage means a man and a woman have registered their marriage at a competent state agency but one or both the party violates the marriage conditions as prescribed in Article 8 of this Law. |
2. Legal consequences
First, the personal relationship between husband and wife: when the illegal marriage is annulled, the two parties must terminate the relationship as husband and wife. admit.
Second, property relations: during their marriage, they are not recognized as husband and wife, so the property created during the marriage is not considered as consolidated common property. Therefore, it will be resolved as in the case of male and female parties living together as husband and wife. Specifically, will be determined based on the agreement between the parties; in case there is no agreement, the settlement shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code and other relevant provisions of law.
According to the provisions of the Civil Code 2015, the private property of each party will belong to that person, but the person with the separate property must prove that it is his/her own property. If the person having separate property cannot prove that it is their own property, this property is determined to be the joint property of the two people.
Third, the relationship between parents and children: when an illegal marriage is annulled, it does not change, because according to Vietnamese law, the rights and obligations between parents and children do not depend on the relationship between parents and children. whether the parents’ marriage is legal or illegal, existing or terminated.
3. Sanctions for illegal marriage
Persons who commit violations, depending on the nature and severity of their violations, may be administratively or criminally handled.
3.1. Administrative sanctions
The administrative handling will be based on Decree No. 82/2020/ND-CP dated July 15, 2020 (effective from September 1, 2020) Regulations on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of private assistance. law, judicial administration, marriage and family, civil judgment enforcement, bankruptcy of enterprises and cooperatives. Accordingly, depending on the behavior, the minimum fine is 1,000,000 VND and the highest is 20,000,000 VND. Specifically:
| Article 38. Acts of violating regulations on marriage registration
1. A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 shall be imposed for erasing, correcting and falsifying the contents of papers issued by competent agencies, organizations or persons to carry out marriage registration procedures.< /span> 2. A fine ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts: b) Providing information, documents or making false representations or statements about marital status for marriage registration procedures. 3. Additional sanction: Confiscation of material evidences which are papers and documents that have been erased or modified to falsify contents, for violations specified in Clause 1 of this Article.</ span> 4. Remedy: Recommending competent agencies, organizations and persons to consider and handle the issued marriage certificates due to violations specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article; papers and documents that have been erased or corrected to falsify the contents specified in Clause 1 of this Article. |
| Article 58. Acts of child marriage, organization of child marriage
1. A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 shall be imposed for organizing the marriage or marriage for an underage person. 2. A fine ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for maintaining an illegal husband and wife relationship with an underage person even though there is a legally effective judgment or decision of the Court. |
| Article 59. Acts of violating regulations on marriage and divorce and violations of the monogamous marriage regime
1. A fine ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts: a) Being married or married but married to another person, unmarried or unmarried but married to someone you know to be married, or married; b) Currently married or married but living as husband and wife with another person; c) Unmarried or unmarried but living as husband and wife with someone they know is married or married; d) Marrying or living together as husband and wife between former father, adoptive mother and adopted child, father-in-law and daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law, stepfather with the stepchild of the wife, stepmother with the stepchild of the husband; 2. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts: a) Marrying or living together as husband and wife between people of the same blood related directly or between people who have the same surname within three generations; b) Married or living together as husband and wife between adoptive parents and adopted children; c) Forced marriage or fraudulent marriage;… |
3.2. Criminal handling
If the illegal marriage act has enough elements to constitute a crime, it will be criminally handled according to the corresponding crimes of the Penal Code 2015:
– Firstly, the crime of forcible marriage or obstructing voluntary and progressive marriage (Article 181 of the Penal Code 2015) shall be punished with warning, non-custodial reform for up to 3 years or imprisonment from 3 months to 3 years.
– Second, the crime of violating the monogamy and monogamy (Article 182 of the Penal Code 2015).
If a married person marries or lives together as husband and wife with another person, or an unmarried or unmarried person marries or cohabits as husband and wife with someone he or she knows well husband, whose wife makes the marriage relationship of one or both parties lead to divorce; Or, who have been administratively sanctioned for this act but continue to commit it, they shall be subject to warning, non-custodial reform for up to 1 year or a prison term of between 3 months and 1 year.
The case causes the wife, husband or child of either party to commit suicide; If a court has issued a decision to annul the marriage or is forced to terminate the cohabitation as husband and wife contrary to the monogamy, but still maintains such relationship, the offenders shall be sentenced to between 6 months and 3 years of imprisonment.
– Third, the crime of organizing child marriage (Article 183 of the Penal Code 2015): Those who organize the marriage or marriage for people who are not yet of age for marriage, have been administratively sanctioned for this act but also commit another violation. offenders, shall be subject to a fine of between VND 10,000,000 and 30,000,000 or non-custodial reform for up to 2 years.
Above is the advice of Khoa Tin Law on the issue: “Consequences and sanctions for handling illegal marriages.”
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